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Elvis Lives Tour
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May 2016 – Aug 2018

Elvis Lives Tour

May 2016 - April 2019 Read more
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    Joshua Tree

    November 8, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We arrived in Joshua Tree & found ourselves a sweet camping spot in amongst the huge granite borders, and of course Joshua trees, at Belle Campground. It is a really special spot especially with the glow of camp fires flickering on the rocks with the Dr Suessesque tree siluottes, all accompanied by a chorus of howling coyotes!

    We spent the following day visiting the various sites including a Cholla cactus garden (which spreads across a massive area where the Mojave & Coloradian Deserts meet), split rock formation, hidden valley & an overlook where we could clearly see the San Andreas Fault on the valley floor below. The twisting and contorted trees where just incredible and there was something slightly mystic about the place.

    We ran Elvis in for a quick health check and he needed some TLC on his rear brakes, which isn't really surprising as we've done 20,000+ miles this trip alone. It only all day so we popped back into the park to camp and realised one of the hub caps was missing, so the next day we mentioned it when getting a tyre replaced and he ended up okay charging us $5 rather than the full $130+ - a good swap in my opinion!

    Once back on the road we headed to our last destination in the US, San Diego...    Read more

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    Saint Diego

    November 14, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After months of taking the slow winding roads we eventually had no choice but to hit the Interstate down to San Diego. We splurged on a posh hotel for the Thursday night (ok, only as our loyalty points were about to expire) so we could get to our first aid course, needed for our volunteering in Guatemala, easily in the morning. Being in the middle of a city was a strange change but we made the most of it with a few jars at the local brewery and then a tasty meal at the Chinese around the corner, before falling asleep in front of James Bond! The next day we completed our Red Cross first aid course, which was pretty simple as they don't let you do too much now a days, and hopefully we won't have to ever use it (Jo says 'touch wood' as some of you will remember she was involved in a mountain rescue last year!)

    There's not a lot of camping available but we were booked in for a couple of nights at Mission Trails, which bizarrely only lets you camp at the weekends. We drove into town and parked up on the sea front and took our bikes on the ferry over to the Coronado Peninsula. It's a beautiful long sand spit but unfortunately most of it had been claimed by the navy for a massive base, but it was a nice flat ride (for a change!). The next morning we went for a long run around the grasslands in the park then spent the rest of the day lazing around on Ocean Beach, rounded off with an amazing burger at the famous Hodads. We moved camp down to Sweetwater Park just south-east of the city centre, and spent the day doing chores prepping for the next phase of our trip. In the morning I went for another run (it's nice to have showers again) and more last minute jobs before we drove into Kensington for meet our friends from Colorado who are heading off on a 3 month cycle tour of NZ. We had a delicious meal with their friends Dennis and Shou, with brownie to die for, before we both headed off on our respective trips to other ends of the earth.    Read more

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    Adios USA

    November 15, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    I thought I'd do a quick write up of our amazing tour of the US of A. It's hard to believe it's been 6 months since we left NJ, but at the same time it feels like we've been on the road for ages as we've seen so much.

    We often get asked our favourite state, but that's almost an impossible question as we've had so many incredible experiences. The most surprising (to us, and to those who ask) is Texas. We weren't expecting much of the largest lower 48 state, but we found it had the biggest variation in scenery, from coast, to swamp, to dessert, to mountains. It had a great state park system (as do many southern states who have to work harder to attract visitors). We were almost stuck without somewhere to stay for the 4th of July weekend and were forced to drive miles through the desert to a SP right on the Mexican border (we even went through border security check points to get there), but found it an amazing place where you could imagine ancient people living and it had fantastic rock art.

    Most of all we've loved the mountains, and the Rockies in particular blew us away. The big peaks in Colorado were hugely impressive but it was really jagged and scary looking mountains of Wyoming and Montana that we most enjoyed. The National Parks of Glacier and Tetons were definitely top of the list (followed closely by Yosemite), but the shear scale of everything out there is hard to describe. There are bucket loads of public lands and things are so well set up to enjoy it that sometimes the areas outside the parks were more enjoyable.

    The Oregon coast was incredible - all public with great camping - although we were both ill and it was a bit foggy which took the shine off it a little, but we've both realised we are really mountain people as there's so much more to explore when up high, and the views can be just breathtaking.

    Over the past couple of months we've stayed with lots of friends and relatives (thanks again to those reading this) and that was a really nice change of lifestyle for a few days that kept our batteries fully recharged, not to mention the TV that we downloaded on their WiFi :)

    I think we are leaving at just the right time, with Trumpton just getting into full swing and before the wall goes up! I'm already planning where we shall go when we inevitably return stateside, but bring on Central America!    Read more

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    Bienvenidos a Méjico

    November 16, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We cruised the 15 miles or so down to the border at Tijuana. It was surprisingly easy going south, but luckily we knew we had to stop to get our tourist cards and temporary vehicle import licence, which would have easily been forgotten and caused much grief later on. It was a pretty dramatic change with the roads in much worse state and people seemingly doubling the speed limit as well as ignoring the fact it's in kmph! We picked up an 8 year old camping book just before we headed over the border and aimed for a little place on the beach which was reportedly $4 per night, but the posh new RV park wanted up to $65 for a prime spot! At least they let us stay on the primitive beach next door for 'only' $20. We are definitely too near the border still!

    The next day started with another jog down the beach, before we drove another couple of hundred kms to a little peninsula, where we stayed at La Jolla Beach Park. We drove to the end of the peninsula to see the fairly spectacular blow hole, but you did have to run the mile long gaunlet of tack shops to get there. The following day was so beautiful we had to spend the day on the beach, and cycled to a little burger joint in town for a decent feed.

    We were planning on heading up into the hills to the national park, but the main road was so bad we decided to keep heading south and we ended up in San Quentin. As we pulled into the supermarket we spotted some English number plates and met 4 big lads squashed into a land-rover on a Alaska to Terra Del Fiego trip, who had much less of an idea about what they were doing than we did, which made us feel a bit better! We found an utterly glorious place to camp nestled behind some sand dunes for a much more reasonable five quid, and are very glad to have got away from the border region.    Read more

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    Bahia de Los Angeles

    November 22, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    To be perfectly honest we haven't been blown away with the Baja so far - there's only one road (and a pretty shabby one at that, sometimes with only a few inches to spare when passing large lorries at crazy speeds), going through mostly scrubby desert with some pretty uninspiring towns, not to mention we woke up to rain! In any case we decided to take a side trip over to Bahia de Los Angeles which gave us a glimpse of why people love the Baja. Once there the sun put his hat on and came out to play.

    The drive to town wound its way over hills which were covered in wierd cirios & cardon catci and elephant trees which reminded us of a cross between Dr Zeuss and Day of the Triffids. At the end of the road was a sleepy little fishing village, who are lucky enough to have whale sharks come right into the bay in town, however there didn't seem to be any sign of them... We seem to have continued our luck from Australia 10 years ago where we were a few weeks to early for them, which is gutting as diving with them is top of our bucket list. We had a glorious site at Campo Daggett, right on the beach with a little palapa (palm shelter) to provide some respite from both sun and wind coming off the hills behind. We started the following morning with a short 5k run, as it was too hot to do any more, and cycled into town for a fresh fish lunch, but for the rest of the 3 days there we just lazed around on the beach - bliss!

    It was a little too sleepy to hang around for too long so we continued our drive south, through several more military checks points. They aren't as scary as they sound and are more of a deterrent for people using this as a drugs route, and most of the time the soldiers are very polite and a quick nose around someone's RV is probably the highlight of their day! We crossed the border into Baja Sur and stopped off in Guerrero Negro to stock up on dinero, gasolina, agua and tacos before heading on to San Ignacio - a little oasis of lakes and palm trees which made a nice change from the deserts to the north. We camped in a little eco campsite, which you know means it's lacking in anything resembling basic creature comforts but it was fine for resting our heads.

    In the morning we explored the town, which took all of 20 minutes, but there was nice old colonial square and a cathedral built in the 1700s (sorry America, but it's nice to see some proper history for a change!). The next town down was Santa Rosalia, which was even nicer. It was built in a small valley which meant it had a proper town feel to it, rather than being stretched along the highway as is the. norm here. It had an iron church designed by Gustav Eiffel, built in Paris before being shipped here and an incredible french panderia (bakery). We spent an hour or so moesing around before a short final drive to Bahia Conception.    Read more

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    Las Playas de Bahia de Conception

    November 26, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Bahia de Conception is a really large hooked bay on the Sea of Cortez with cove after cove of gorgeous white sand beaches. Some have small restaurants with some semi permanent residents but we settled down on Requeson, which is little more than a spit of sand reaching out to a tiny island. The island provides great shelter from the wind and you can wade out 100 metres without getting out of your depth. It's really rustic camping but we bagged one of the 5 palapas and proceeded to spend 5 beautiful days sun bathing and fishing. A couple of locals came round selling prawns or scallops which meant we could hang around for longer than expected, although a beer run was unavoidable before long.

    The only problem we had was our doors suddenly locked on us - with us on the outside! Fortunately we know Elvis pretty well now so we borrowed some tools and managed to break in without damaging anything. Time for us to tape a key somewhere safe on the outside of the van!

    We made friends with some germans who have been coming here for 40 years, who told us about a party in one of the beaches. Rather than the usual travellers scene of youngsters raving into the night the average age was probably about 65, but they strutted their stuff on the dance floor to Fast Eddie and the Slow Learners, with an amazing drummer/singer (Eddie), who was in some famous band in his younger years, and a rag tag group of hippies who (slowly) learnt how to play guitar, They were great and the crowd loved the old covers they rocked out.

    It was a bit cloudy the next morning so we moved to another cove a little up the coast, where they had seen whale sharks the day before, and spent the day scanning the water, but to no avail :( However we did see a fair few dolphins and swam in amazing bio-luminescence (it glows when disturbed) water when it got dark :)    Read more

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    Best Birthday Ever !!!

    November 28, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    It was so beautiful on these deserted beaches in the Bahia de Conception that we couldnt tear ourselves away, and rather than head into town for the traditional nice meal out and pubbing/clubbing as is the norm (we are often away as it's thanksgiving, which obviously isn't a big deal for us) we stayed on Playa Escondida (Hidden Beach).

    It was a beautiful calm morning and I spotted a fin far out from shore so we rushed to Andre's and we all went out in his small inflatable. There was a HUGE whale shark feeding out there but every time I got in the water a couple of gentle swishes of his tail and he was 20+ metres away, until one time I slid in quietly and he turned straight towards me a cruised past practicality in touching distance - it was just INCREDIBLE to be so close to to such a magnificent creature and I even got some decent footage on the GoPro. We cruised around for a while longer and saw 4 in total, with one almost rubbing his dorsal fin against the boat.

    I got a hammock for a pressie, so that consumed most of the rest of the day, as well as a decale map of the states (we've managed 40, so far!), and an elecy toothbrush as my old one only manages about 2 brushes pet charge. My family got me an incredible rucksack, which should help the back when we get to the volunteering job in Guatemala. But I have to say the best present wasn't wrapped, as we've been unsuccessful chasing those whale sharks for years, and we didn't have to part with hundreds of dollars or share them with a boat load of tourists - just amazing.

    We spent most of the day lazing around on the beach and watching rays jump clean out of the water. The Canadians next door also let us borrow their kayak and SUP board so we chased a few dolphins around - it pays to make friends with the guys with all the toys!

    Unbelievably, out of the dozen people on the beach it was also someone else's birthday so everyone gathered around and shared 2 cakes (another lovely Canadian couple brought me one) with a few glasses of wine/beer, then sat around a roaring camp fire on the beach.    Read more

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    Loretto

    December 2, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    So we finally tore ourselves away from the utterly gorgeous beaches and drove an hour down to the town of Loretto, and set up in LA Riveriera RV park. It was really nice to have hot showers and wifi again! We had an incredible pizza (again now one of life's luxuries) and that evening we went down to Augie's, which has a daily happy hour(s) and polished off a few Negra Modelos.

    The next day we made the most of the internet and caught up on the world and with the family. The big adventure of the day was a visit to the supermarket, and we're so happy to find decent food shops at last, with good choice at great prices ($7 scotch anyone?). We couldn't resist going back to Augie's for $1 beers with free snacks and then we ate in a nice non-touristy restaurant in town.

    We were supposed to be leaving the next day but we found it hard to so ended up exploring the lovely old town in with a mission church from 1697, before trawling the tourist shops. Guess what - we ended up at Augie's again! We met a guy from the camp site there and had the most wierd night at a late night tacqueria, with an incredible Mexican chef who grew up in the states, and had fish & prawn tacos to die for!

    We eventually ripped ourselves away from this lovely little town, but not before a MASSIVE breakfast burrito at the same place as last night.    Read more

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    Pedro Joins The Trip!

    December 5, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    After Loretto we drove a couple of hours south, staying in a nice little community camp site just on the edge of Cuidad Concepcion. The next morning we did the last 2 hours to La Paz, the capital of Baja. There was a big bike race going on when we got there and they'd closed off the malecon (beach-side road), so we parked up and wandered along the waterfront. There's no camping in town so we drove 15 miles or so north to a nice beach with a few restaurants.

    About a mile or so out there was this little black thing limping across the road. We slowed down to avoid running it over and realised it was a really tiny puppy. He could barely walk and was having trouble breathing so we had no choice but to pick him up. We thought he wouldn't survive the night but we gave him a little water and food before he passed out. The next day we took him to the vet who said he was severely anemic (his tongue and gums are white), but he dosed his fleas and gave him a shot. He said he was only 5 weeks old and way too young to be separated from his mother.

    The next couple of nights were pretty rough, with him whining every couple of hours, and fearing him peeing/pooping in the van we jumped up to let him out. Over the next few days he started perking up and his personality started to shine through. The name Pedro seemed to suit him perfectly, particularly as perro is dog in spanish.

    To be honest neither Pedro or us were in much of a state to do anything other than a supermarket run to get him kitted out and chilling at the beach.    Read more

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    All Saints

    December 9, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    After a couple of restless nights we were delighted when Pedro started to sleep through the night. We moved on down to Todos Santos (All Saints) and found a surf beach to spend the night. Pedro took his first proper walk along the beach and, promptly slept for the rest of the day because of it! We went to pull away to get some supplies (aka cold beer) and found ourselves stuck in the soft sand, but fortunately one of the dudes camping nearby was a 4x4 instructor so he helped us out.

    We had an amazing burger at Shut Up Franks (don't ask me) and as we got into the van we heard a shout from down the street from George, a guy we'd shared that wierd night with up in Loretto. He had a heavy replacement clutch so we gave him a lift back to his sleepy little RV park and figured we might as well spend the night. We spent the evening shooting the breeze with Frieda next door and George, and the next day doing little jobs around the van. That evening we cycled into town and got another shout, this time Jacob & Chris who we hung out with up at the beach weeks ago, and inevitably ended up in several bars around town. It's really nice to be on more of a traveller circuit than there is in the US and to keep bumping into friends.

    In the morning they popped round to meet Pedro and afterwards we continued our journey south. We ate in an incredible restaurant they recommended which was surrounded by lush gardens where they grow all their own produce. We didn't make it very far and found an almost deserted beach, and the couple camping on the far side bought us an enormous fillet of Amber Jack that they had spear gunned earlier and it was delicious cooked on an open fire. It wasn't that long ago that I would avoid fish like the plague, as I would coffee - travel really does broaden the horizons.

    We were woken by the sound of dozens of rays jumping a metre plus out of the water and belly flopping onto the water, then a pod of whales meandered through the bay. Needless to say the sun is shining - this really is what life is all about.    Read more

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    Scuba With Sea Lions

    December 11, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We weren't looking forward to Cabo San Lucas, as it's full of American resorts (think Cancun/Magaluf) and doesn't have a great reputation compared to the rest of the Baja but we felt we had to go take a look. Fortuitously we had bumped into some travelling friends who recommended a nice small hostel and dive centre (plus they forgot to return their keys) and it was great advice. We squeezed the van into their car port and arranged a dive for the next day. There was a really nice mix of people & nationalities, including the first brit we had met on the road, and with only 8 beds a perfect size for us.

    We headed on an early start for our dive at Pelican Rock, only a 10 min boat ride from the harbour. Within a couple of minutes we had a lovely encounter with a white tip reef shark (only 1.5m long and harmless), then went out into the blue (you normally dive around rock/coral formations) and found an enormous school of cow-nosed and mobula rays. For the 2nd dive we went down close to famous Cabo Arch, and into a narrow canyon where we sat on the sandy bottom and watched the inquisitive sea lions pop down to say hello. We've never seen them underwater before and it was an amazing experience. On the way back we bumped into 2 tortugas (turtles) sleeping under rocks, one of whom wriggled free and swam over my head for an incredible GoPro shot.

    We had a delicious lunch at lovely local joint, and as we were away from the resort area it cost us a massive $4 each :) Diving is tiring so we lazed around the pool and then a few of us went out for another lovely meal, and ended up drinking 2 litre bottles of beer on the hostel roof terrace until the small hours.

    Its was lovely to hang out with cool people at a really nice place, but diving is always pricey and despite the cheap eats we were burning through money so we headed off to find a cheap beach, and also recover from a bit of overindulgence.    Read more

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    RIP Pedro - A Life Too Short

    December 14, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    So we are devastated that Pedrito didn't make it. He was doing OK at the hostel, albeit a little subdued, and so we drove the half an hour to Cabo San Lucas where we found a tiny little beach nestled two brand new massive resorts that were going up - in fact this coast will just be one long hotel sprawl before too long. Pedro didn't want to eat or drink much, and had lost his verve for life.

    In the morning we took him to the vet who ran the triple test of common diseases, which all came back negative. We got his favourite food, and when he shunned this we started to worry. We had to inject electrolyte fluid into him using a small syringe and he really didn't enjoy that. The doc asked us to come back the next day so we found another little beach with a bit more around, and were over the moon when he suddenly smelled my fish & chips, and wolfed down a fair bit. The place we choose to kip was a popular place with the locals, and we even got serenaded at 5am, so on top of the worry for Pedro we weren't in the best of shape.

    In the morning he refused all food and drink again so back to the vets again, who suggested he stayed in overnight so they could properly observe him and make sure he had everything he needed. We cruised down the coast a bit further to get somewhere more peaceful and found a lovely deserted stretch of shoreline and spent the day sunbathing, swimming and worrying.

    In the morning we headed back to the vets and were heartbroken when she told us he had died that morning. He had hepatitis passed down from his mother and as his immune system was so weak he didn't really stand a chance.

    What hurt the most is he'd recovered from this desperate little bundle into a proper puppy, leaping around the place and attacking anything he could, so for him to deteriorate so quickly was awful to take. We were already imagining how much he was going to enjoy the volunteer trekking in Guatemala and how the orphanage kids were going to love him. Unsurpringly we were in a bit of a state and wondered around in a daze trying to make sense of it all.    Read more

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    To Cabo Pulmo & Beyond

    December 18, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    So we collected up our broken hearts and got out of the big bad city. We couldn't face any company so we found a deserted beach, lit a fire and drowned our sorrows. I went for a run on miles of beautiful coastline, but somehow managed not to enjoy it at all.

    We then drove on to our planned destination, which was a popular spot on the iOverlander app. There were loads of rigs there - maybe as many as 50, with most of them there semi-permanently, escaping the Canadian winter. It was a nice spot in the marine park, but we couldn't really muster up much enthusiasm for anything so just mooched about. The next day we drove the other side of the headland but were buffeted by some strong winds so we decided to cut our losses and finish off the incredibly painful, dusty, rutted dirt road in search of civilisation.

    Civilisation we found in Los Barriles (The Barrels - don't ask me why), and we found a reasonable camp spot in an arroyo (dry river bed) just on the edge of town. This place is a mecca for wind and kite surfers, and although we've done a bit of the former we weren't nearly hard-core enough for this crowd. The town was overly yankifed for us too, with the cheap taqueria (taco stalls) replaced with gringo restaurants so we only stayed the night.

    We decided to head back to our favourite spot at the bottom end of Baja Sur, namely Todos Santos.    Read more

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    Back to Todos Santos

    December 24, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We are pretty behind on the blog after the upset of Pedro so time to catch up...

    After bumping into some German friends on the highway (not literally!) and pausing for some mucho tasty empañadas, we made our way back to Todos Santos - our favourite place on the Baja Sur. It's a sleepy little artist town which has enough tourism but not too much. We watched the baby turtles being released on the beach at sunset, actually slightly later as a bunch more decided to hatch just at the time we were there. We then drove a mile or so down a bumpy road to a surfers beach which was great for camping.

    We spent a couple of days lazying around on the beach, which gets swarmed by surfers at sun rise and sun set. There were humpback whales with their calves not far off the beach, and with the binocs we could watch the youngsters doing all kinds of crazy manoeuvres as they played around.

    After 3 days of roasting weather a shower was much needed so we popped back to the little campground in town, and were delighted our friend Frida was still there. The last time we were there was when Pedrito was the most full of life. She was flying over to mainland the next day so we gave her and her dog Todo a lift to La Paz.    Read more

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    Feliz Navidad

    December 25, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    It's sad to admit but a trip to Walmart is a bit of a highlight to life at the moment ;) Although the food is gorgeous the little shops are a bit limited and it's nice to stock up on familiar goodies, particularly around Xmas. We bumped into the friends who had invited us to Xmas dinner, and also randomly got chatting to a Kiwi dude who just happened to be in the same campsite.

    We were just having a quick bite as a late lunch when Andrea said not to eat too much. Only then did the penny drop that the Germans, along with most of Europe, have their Xmas meal on Xmas Eve evening!

    We were treated to a full on traditional dinner, with a few unusual extras - the German dumplings were definitely a great addition! Jo's Banoffee Pie went down well, despite it being a bit sloppy as what was labelled as cream was actually sour cream, which doesn't whip, so we all had a good laugh about the "banoffee soup"...

    We had a great Xmas day in the sun, opening an abundance of little presents despite the fact we promised each other low key gifts! Even Walmart couldnt manage the traditional pork pie so we had to make do with pancakes for breakfast :)

    That evening we went round to the Kiwi's Hamish & Lisa's 5th wheel (large caravan) and drunk an inordinate amount of increasingly alcoholic smoothies! It was a fun night, particularly as we rarely meet kiwis or aussies out here.

    We even managed to find Star Wars in english at the local cinema. It was a fancy cinema, and had massive lazy boy recliner seats, yet still cost us only under 4 bucks each!

    Despite missing out on the family Christmas experience it was a great few days, and one festive period we will never forget (a bit like the one in Cambodia 10 years ago).    Read more

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    Maya Joins The Trip!!

    December 27, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We so loved the joy that Pedrito gave us in his short time and we were looking forward to the rest of the trip with him, that we decided we should get another doggy companion. We left the RV park and drove back to the beach where we found Pedro, and saw what we think was his aunt and cousin. It didn't seem right to separate them and we didn't want to risk the same thing happening so we contacted an animal shelter and went round to meet the beach puppies that had been abandoned. They were adorable! The litter contained a mixed old bunch, and we never knew that they could have multiple fathers.

    We chose a dog called Pinta, which means paint as her paws and nose have a splash of white. She's a brindle coloured, and has lovely soft short fur. We weren't enamoured with the name, so we decided to change it to Maya which won out narrowly to Paz (as she came from La Paz). The vet reckons she's about 3 and half months old, and is a lot bigger than Pedro although she shouldnt get too big.

    We went to the vets the next day and got her jabs done. She was pretty zonked for the rest of the day so we decided it was a perfect time for the ferry crossing.

    We'd been putting off the ferry, partly as it had been fairly windy but also as it would mean leaving behind the Baja. It was supposed to be an 18 hour journey, and being skinflints we opted for the commercial ferry rather than the more luxurious tourist one. It meant we slept in the van on the top deck, but there were hot meals and showers so it wasn't too shabby. There was a rumour there was another camper on board but you couldn't see it with all the lorries (aka trucks/semis), and they didn't come and hang out with the drivers like we did.

    There was a bit of a roll going on at some points throughout the night but a combination of alcohol and drugs made it plain sailing (sorry, bad pun!). As we woke we were pulling into port so more like 14 hours and certainly not the crossing we were dreading.    Read more

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    Carry On Down The Coast

    December 30, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We're way behind in the blog so this is a bit of a catch up post for a bit we missed so we can upload the others we have already written.

    From where the ferry docked in Mazatlán we headed down the coast for New Years in San Blas, a sleepy little fishing/surfing town. We had a beautiful campsite with green grass and tall palm trees, but it was completely empty. We understood better a few days later when our legs were covered in mossies bites! We thought being a larger town it would be a good place to celebrate, but there really wasn't a lot going on. We enjoyed a few cocktails from a terrace overlooking the main plaza and dutifully waited until midnight, but it was a bit of a damp squib. The best thing was the home made mini hot air balloons everyone was setting off.

    We cruised an hour or so down the coast and found another gorgeous camp site, this time bug free :) the second day we went for a quick lunch at a beach restaurant, and ended up spending all afternoon eating and drinking. When they have freshly caught lobster for under 10 bucks you can't go wrong, and the prawn empañadas (think mini Cornish pasties) were delicious.

    This place was also a little sleepy and very few tourists so we continued to the south along the coast.    Read more

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    Feliz Cumpleaños Jo!

    January 7, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We wanted to find a nice place for Jo's birthday, and we were struggling. There was no room at the tiny (6 places) one we had in mind, then we ended up in a horrible, crowded locals resort town. We decided to chance our arm and go on down a few more bays and we couldn't have picked a better spot. This gorgeous luxury campsite right on the beach was pushing the budget, but when we met the owner and spent half an hour shooting the breeze (mostly potshots at Trump!) he knocked a load of money off for us.

    Jo's birthday started with hot cakes (pan cakes to everyone else) and presents, then we spent the rest of the day chillaxing on the beach with a long lazy lunch - bliss. That evening we were invited to a big birthday party down the beach, but as the clientele is mostly retired Canadians it was all over by 9pm! We went back to our place and had a little fire on the beach :)

    The following day we did a boat trip out to Isla Del Corale, although they should really tack the word Meurte on the end as the coral was long dead. Despite that it was a fun trip with some trolling fishing, whale spotting (humpbacks) and snorkeling. We were really lucky to be camping next to Brenda & Richard, a lovely Canadian couple who looked after Maya for the day so we could go out on the boat, despite the fact the crew said we could take her.

    As it was such a beautiful spot with a really nice bunch of neighbours we ended up staying another day, and then another day,... I took a surf lesson, and it was such a nice break that I ended up riding only my 5th wave! The problem with learning to surf is that it's a bit like skiing, and it's so tiring until you get the technique right. We definitely needed a couple more days on the beach to recuperate ;)    Read more

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    San Pancho

    January 12, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    So we managed to drag ourselves away from Lo De Marcos a whole 20 minutes down the road to see our friend Frida (a Swede) & Todo (a dog) from Baja who were living in San Francisco (or San Pancho as it is known locally). It was such a different town, full of surfers and youngsters enjoying themselves, and therefore a bit more touristy. The camping didn't look very appealing so we parked up outside Frida's house and spent the evening enjoying the nightlife.

    The next day we spent lazying around on the beach, and had a weird experience in a beach bar, as they were apparently filming a Tequila advert & let's just say it was v strange - you'll be able to see from the photo.

    We liked San Pancho but we're going so slowly and there's so much more to see that we decided it was time to leave the coast and head for the hills.    Read more

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    San Sebastián Del Oeste

    January 14, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We left San Pancho to visit Walmart and to go to a vet who could fit a European micro chip into Maya. Todo hadn't been chipped either so Frida came along for the ride, and with a bit of a squeal we both had bionic dogs!

    We spent an inordinate amount of time/money in Walmart and then headed away from the coast for the first time in months. We laid over in a lovely grassy campground run by some Canadians, and got invited up to the house for happy hour.

    In the morning, rather than take the main road back to the coast then up again, we decided to trust Google and go on the back roads. We realised what a mistake this was the first time it tried to direct us down a mud track and into a river! Still being stubborn as we are (well I am anyway) we persevered and was just very glad it hadn't been raining much recently as at one point we had to dry across a weir and another was a full on river bed crossing. There was a loud cheer when we eventually made it back onto metalled roads!

    We stopped for a gorgeous lunch of slow roasted beef ribs and carne asada, which came to about $7 USD - this is one of the reasons we are loving Mexico so much. From there we drove up more cobbles to San Sebastián Del Oeste, an ancient village in the hills. We explored town admiring the old buildings covered with bullet holes from the Mexican revolution, then stretched the legs up to the Mirador looking out over town. It's old bumpy and windy roads was pretty tricky in the van, and we camped for the night just out of town as we (particularly Maya) couldn't face pounding any more miles as there really aren't any campsites around here.

    Unfortunately although Maya loves the van, she isn't so keen on it moving and has thrown up on the last few journeys. I'm not surprised considering today's gravel roads but we are really hoping she grows out of it soon as we have a lot of miles still to do.    Read more

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    1 Tequila, 2 Tequila, 3 Tequila, Floor!

    January 15, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We rolled into Tequila and hunted out the Sauza Distillery for a tour. For the non-tequila drinkers this is one of the biggest brands, and the factory was a huge industrial process churning out gallons of the stuff. There was many, many tastings and driving definitively wasn't a good idea so we found a little hotel nearby.

    We had a lovely rustic pizza then mosied over to a little grunge bar where a famous cocktail had been invented. To our amazement it was full of Brits (we've only met one other group in 3 months)! There were a bunch from Leeds who run some Tequila bars back home so were here on a fact finding mission. Even more incredibly later on Guillermo Sauza, head of one the most Tequila families (along with me Jose Cuervo of course), turned up and invited us around his distillery the next day! The night continued on and got progressively messier as various bottles were emptied.

    Surprisingly the next morning we didn't feel too bad (considering) and we headed over to Mr Sauza's boutique Fortaleza distillery. We got an amazing tour of the artisan distillery, where everything is done by hand and couldn't be more different from the mass produced stuff the day before. The end product they turn out is amazing stuff, and anyone who has been put off by slammers of the cheap stuff should definitely try a neat shot of Fortaleza. Interestingly the connoisseurs drink the blanco, straight from the distillation process, and not the aged stuff that you assume is better but completely changes the taste.

    We had a lot of fun in Tequila - maybe a little too much - and decided it would be dangerous to hang around too long!    Read more

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    Chapala la la

    January 24, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After Tequila we needed a nice quiet place to rest our weary heads for a few nights. We certainly found that at Roca Azul on Lake Chapala, a sort of retirement place with semi-permanent & permanent Norte Americanos. Unfortunately Maya was sick (after eating a rotting iguana carcass...) so we had to drive an hour around the lake to a recommended vet. On the second day of doing this we managed to find a little hotel v close to the vets, managed by a lovely Kiwi & American couple who let us camp v cheaply & even use one of their rooms hot showers! In between visits to the vet we visited the beautiful lakeside tourist towns of Ajijic & Chapala all bustling with both local & gringo tourism, so we spent a few happy days drinking Margaritas eating nice food & relaxing. We even saw the Mexican version of morris dancing, which involved hurling themselves off a massive pole!Read more

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    Warming Up On A Volcano

    January 27, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    After many months of sloathfulness on the beaches of Baja & the mainland, we thought we'd better stretch our legs & get some miles under our belts in preparation for our volunteering in Guatemala. So we visited one of the newest volcanos in the world which started to pop out of the ground in a farmers field in 1940. Coming into town we got chased by dudes on horses wanting to take us the easy way, but we really needed a proper workout and a lovely guy at our camping area got one of his mates to take us on foot instead.

    We started high, at just over 2,000 metres above sea level, and it was clear of overnight but soon warmed up. It was an incredibly tough hike - first an hour & a half over rough smoking lava fields & then an hour up a scree slope. Our guide Petro bounded up the slope as if it was flat, but he was used to the attitude, and more importantly was only 17. It was incredible to get to the top around 2,800 metres and look down into the deep crater. Coming down the steep ash field scree slope on the other side was much more fun & took about a quarter of the time!

    On the way back to the campsite we visited what remains of one of the villages consumed by the lava flow, and it was amazing to see a church spire sticking up out of a lava - nature is awesome...    Read more

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